How can I reuse or recycle cooking oil?
Colleen Christensen has asked:
Is there anything one can do with rancid cooking oil?
(I don’t know how rancid she means by rancid but let’s assume she just means used and therefore slightly icky – say oil or lard from deep frying – rather than full on bleugh.)
I know that commercial fryers can recycle their old oil (for use as biodiesel) but what about domestic chefs who aren’t using anywhere near as much? And what about other uses?
Best Suggestions
- Reuse: If it’s still reasonably clean, you can use it to make soap. If it’s too far gone for that or filled with impurities from frying, you might be able to use it to make wild bird feeders – or even to encourage critters to remove an old tree stump for you.
- Recycle: Most household waste collections site (tips) in the UK collect cooking oil for recycling. Ask your local authority what the arrangements are in your area.
- See the comments below for more suggestions and ideas
(Photo by float)
One of the old blokes on our allotment site uses old veg oil for weather proofing exterior woodwork- fences and such.
It would make wood very flammable and smelly
One of the old blokes on our allotment site uses old veg oil for weatherproofing exterior woodwork such as fences and sheds.
Small amounts can be added to a compost bin – mixed well with paper or cardboard. Also some Council operated civic amenity sites accept cooking oil (check if there is a receptacle available first)
You can use to make soap
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/35.html
I love making left over oil soap! Food grade oils make such nice soap.
how do you make soap from oil?
I read in a gardening book that you soak newspapers with used cooking oil. Then use it as a bottom layer before mulching. It froms a better barrier against weeds.
If she really does mean simply used and not truely rancid, she can strain it through cheese cloth and reuse it.
A diesel engine can be run on almost any type of oil
Not true I’m afraid, it clogs up the injectors in some Ford and Rover engines. Works best in Pug’ and Citroen turbos. Mix with at least, 2 parts diesel to 1 part oil. It does however lower emissions and gives a smoother running engine, but smells like a mobile chippie!
Don’t the Inland Revenue get a bit upset if you use oil that duty has not been paid on?
I have a feeling that people using fat from chip shops for diesel engines have to jump through all sorts of hoops to use it legally.
My mum uses her old chip pan oil (which goes solid at room temperatures) to make wild bird feeders.
She mixes old seeds and nuts into the fat then pours it into waste containers from the kitchen (like mushroom trays or ready meal dishes).
You can shave with olive oil, though I’d expect you’d want to use clean oil – maybe out of date stuff?
Charcoal grill. Loosely wad paper, add charcoal, pour outdated or used cooking oil over all then light. MUCH better than icky taste and smell of lighter fluid. (I made charcoal chimney out of 3 lb coffee can.)
Fireplace, same as above for charcoal.
You can clean the oil by placing it in a jar with equal parts water and oil.
Put it in the sun for 2 days and shake it whenever you think about it. The water will become cloudy with the impurities. Let it settle then pour off the oil. Repeat as many times as necessary.
If you only used it for vege cooking it’s on to use for cooking again. If it was used for meat then consider using it as an oil paint thiner, home made ingredient for soap or hand moisturizer.
Hi
make soap with some essential oil to disguise the fried smell.
esterize to produce biodiesel and glycerine. glycerine can then be mixed with unused oil to make soap (coconut oil is best) and biodiesel can be used neat in diesel engines. change the fuel filter after the first few tanks and make sure the engine has no rubber parts (if older than 1992).
above all – don’t reuse for cooking. once heated more than a couple of times the molecular bonds change creating trans fatty acids which stick to the inside of arteries and cause more problems than saturated fat.
cheers
from the dollar stretcher: http://www.stretcher.com
Stump Removal
To remove a stump for free, just pour any salty, oily cooking liquid onto the area you want removed. Bacon grease is especially effective. The small gnawing animals will come out and chew the wood to get the salt and oil. A large porcupine can chew up to three inches off a section all by himself. They are notorious for destroying wooden tool handles to get the salt left from sweat.
I am working on stump number three of six on my neighbor’s property. It has taken five years to destroy two large pine stumps and number three is about 50% gone. You cannot even see where the first one was, the second is hard to spot, and the third is going fast.
–hope this helps?
john b wrote:
January 24th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
“One of the old blokes on our allotment site uses old veg oil for weather proofing exterior woodwork- fences and such.”
So wouldn’t there be a risk the fences get eaten by critters too?
Use the Fat Trap to responsibly dispose of waste fat and grease from cooking!
http://www.lessmess.co.uk
for further information on fat, oil and grease disposal
If you use a lot of oil you could buy a Vito oil filter machine which cleans it and doubles its useable life.
Hello,
I’m in California and didn’t want to throw out my old cooking oil. Is there somewhere I can take it or will someone pick it up?
Thanks,
Mario
Drop it off at your local Sonic. They have a used oil bin that they have collected intermittently. I think they actually make a little money off of it, so it’s a win- win situation. And if you’re asking yourself if they reuse it for cooking, no they don’t. Additionally, by adding your oil to their bin you generate curiosity- people will pick up on your example and bring theirs as well.
What about vegetable oil that’s actually rancid (really old, with rancid smell)? Can I pour that into the dirt so as to recycle the empty plastic bottle, or do I need to throw the full bottle away? Thank you.
I have recently finished a website project for Living Fuels which allows you to search for local recycling points for used cooking oil.
Why not give it a try!
http://www.livingfuels.co.uk
Hi George
The website is very useful – I can get to Regis Road to recycle my oil. Do you think there’s scope for more local drop-off points for domestic oil recycling? There’s one local restaurant near me in N London that does this. Are there ways more could be involved and do you know the barriers, eg legal, financial?
THANK YOU! I have been looking for the oil recycling places for ages. And only 3 miles from me.
Thank you!!
An example of a successful cooking oil recycling pilot program at Boston University:
“Recycle That Cooking Oil”
Pilot program hopes to connect Fryolators to boiler rooms
http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/09/28/recycling-cooking-oil
The Dec 30, 2008 query about truly rancid oil remains unanswered. I too would like to know. I don’t use oil fast enough. I’ll buy a fresh bottle of oil, and use a few teaspoons from each over a few weeks, before the whole bottle turns rancid sitting in my cupboard.
Besides lighting a BBQ or fireplace fire, is there any other use or way to recycle? The oil is “clean” as in, never having been used, but truly rancid, as in bad-smelling and tasting. Help, please?
I have been running my aspace for two years now on old veg oil, which has been heavily modified. I also now of others that do the same. the problem now is that the bio fuel companies are more aggressive in there gathering of old oil so it is getting harder to get. So having used household oil is a win win situation.
I live at havant, hampshire bertye@live.co.uk
4CYCLE IT
I was wondering if we can apply for receiving news letters?